Project News

On March 11th, 2013, Kassala Vocational Training Center (KVTC) and the industry department in Kassala State Ministry of Investment and Tourism cohosted a seminar entitled "Relationship between Vocational Training Institutions and Industries -its importance and approach-". Vocational Training cluster in Capacity Development Project for Provision of the Services for Basic Human Needs in Kassala (K-TOP) has aimed to make KVTC a vocational training institution which leads trainees to get an employment. For that purpose, KVTC has sought the cooperation with the company. The seminar was conducted for introducing KVTC and such good practice of the cooperation with the company. Fifty four people from company, association, organization and government participated in the seminar.

As the good practice, KVTC introduced the relationship with Sudan Sugar Company (SSC). SSC is one of the biggest companies in Kassala. The company uses various kinds of machineries through the process of producing sugar, from growing sugar cane to purifying sugar, and hires numerous employees. However, SSC has not provided many training opportunities for the employees to upgrade their skills. Concerning this issue, KVTC and Mr. Atsunori Kume, JICA Expert on vocational training curriculum and teaching materials development, suggested to SSC to adopt CUDBAS (Curriculum Development Based on Ability Structure) method for knowing the training needs of SSC technicians. Based on those needs, KVTC can propose and prepare the skill-up training.

First, KVTC trainer facilitates five SSC long-experienced technicians to write on cards the required capacity (knowledge, skill and attitude) for their work, thirty cards per person. After that, they check all cards whether there are same contents or not and classify in task categories. Each category is ranked by the degree of importance and structured into a chart. Based on the chart, supervisors evaluate their unit technicians by five-point scale and make the Ability Map of the unit. The Ability Map visualises the strong point and weak point of an individual employee and the section as a group, and shows what capacity needs to be improved. In the case of SSC, KVTC conducted CUDBAS workshop for technicians in the tractor maintenance section. On the later date, KVTC trainer provided for SSC technicians "training on electronic fuel injection system" and "training on hydraulic system" according to the Ability Map information.

On the other hand, conducting CUDBAS workshop in the company is also good opportunity for KVTC to know the needs of the industry and reflect the needs to its class and curriculum for their trainees. Moreover, because of the cooperative relationship with SSC, the company is accepting more KVTC trainees for in-plant training and offering the broken machineries for free as a training material. Now, it can be said that KVTC and SSC is constructing "win-win" relationship.

In the Q&A at the end of the seminar, there were many questions from the participants and it continued for one and a half hours. It seems that not only KVTC but the local companies are also willing to activate Kassala industries. During the lively conversations, one of the company owners said that, although he hired some graduates from KVTC, their skill was not enough and did not match with the industry's needs. At that moment, one of the KVTC trainers suddenly raised his hand and claimed as follows:

"That is a past story. Through K-TOP activities, we, trainers, are now developing day-to-day including skills. KVTC is also changing as an organization. Therefore, the skills of KVTC graduates will also change".

The seminar was broadcasted by the local media, and there are some contacts to KVTC from an industrial union in Kassala. At this very moment, it seems that KVTC is establishing its role in the society by connecting with the local industry.

At the beginning of the seminar, Mr. Abdelmonem, Director General in Ministry of Industry and Tourism, spoke that cooperation between vocational training institutions and companies is essential for the development of industry and economic in Sudan.

Mr. Alharith (left), Deputy Director in KVTC, and Mr. Kume (right), JICA Expert, introduced the relationship between KVTC and SSC as a good practice.

Mr. Alharith, Deputy Director in KVTC, facilitated CUDBAS Workshop in SSC (left-center).

The example of the Ability Map. Point five is colored in red, four in pink, three in yellow, two in green and one in blue. As a result, the capacity category which has more yellow, green or blue needs to be trained.

(Reported by Mana Jingushi, Project Assistant)